Controversy Erupts Over Return of Aksum Obelisk

UN Integrated Regional Information Network (UNIRIN), 24 July
2001

Nairobi—The Ethiopian government has reacted angrily to remarks
last week by an Italian government official who opposes the return to
Ethiopia of an ancient stone obelisk, taken to Rome in 1937 on the
orders of the Italian fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini. Reports in
the Milan daily ‘Corriere della Sera’ quote Vittorio
Sgardi, deputy minister in the Italian ministry of culture and a
leading art critic, as saying the obelisk had been in Italy so long it
was now a “naturalized citizen”. The 24-metre high obelisk
was cut into three pieces and shipped to Rome following the Italian
invasion of Ethiopia. It was erected in Rome's Piazza di Porta
Capena, in front of what was then the colonial ministry—now the
headquarters of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

As a signatory of the 1947 United Nations treaty, Italy was obligated
to return property looted from Ethiopia during the fascist occupation
within 18 months, but despite years of lobbying it was not until April
1997 that the Italian government signed an agreement with Addis Ababa
pledging to return the obelisk to its original site in Aksum, northern
Ethiopia. The outbreak of war between Ethiopian and Eritrea in May
1998 is said to have delayed the return of the monument, but following
a visit to Addis Ababa by an Italian government official in December
last year, the Ethiopian government said it expected the return to
take place within the year.

However, according to Sgali, returning the obelisk to Ethiopia would
be inappropriate, as “at its age it would arrive
broken”. Instead, Italy should spend the money allotted for the
move to repair other obelisks still in Ethiopia, the Italian news
agency ANSA, quotes him as saying. The Aksum Obelisk is the tallest of
three carved stone stelae dating back to the Aksumite kingdom, which
reached the height of its wealth and influence 3,000 years
ago. Studies sponsored by the UN have already recommended how the
monument should be transported back to Ethiopia and restored to its
original site.

The Ethiopian foreign ministry said in a statement on 21 July that it
was “surprised and saddened” by the reports that Italy
would not return the obelisk. Girum Abay, acting director of the
European and American department of the ministry, told the state-run
Ethiopian News Agency that as a signatory to the 1947 treaty, Italy
had international obligations to return the obelisk to its rightful
owner. “The Aksum Obelisk is the property of Ethiopia,”
Girum said.